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The best meteor shower of the year is on the way

Colder nights make for great night sky viewing especially with plenty to see in the month of December.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — We’ve made it to the end of November which means it is time to talk about what we can see in our night sky over the next month.

November just saw the Full Beaver Moon and we got several great photos from our weather watchers including some interesting cloud optics like halos and coronas.

Credit: WLTX
Credit: WLTX

In the next week, we will get an amazing pass of the International Space Station that will last 6 minutes next Tuesday. Conditions look decent for viewing so this should be a sight to see over the Midlands.

Credit: WLTX

On the morning of the 9th Venus and the Crescent Moon will appear in our eastern sky. 

Credit: WLTX

Towards the middle of the month is the best spectacle of the year, the Geminids Meteor shower. With no light pollution from the Moon, this shower produces 120 meteors an hour in dark locations. In the city, this will be reduced somewhat but this will still be the best meteor shower of 2023 to view. If you stay outside for a while you will almost certainly see in a meteor in our sky!

Credit: WLTX

At the end of the Month, we see the Cold Moon which is December’s Full Moon on the 26th.

Credit: WLTX
Credit: WLTX

Weather over the next few days will likely keep us from seeing the night sky but Winter tends to be one of our more cloudy seasons so this is very common. Just make sure to be patient on nights with more clouds for breaks in the sky.

If you have any questions or any photos of what we talked about make sure to send them to us on social media.

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